Outcast
by Oceantale and Thornfire
Summary: Jaystorm is an ambitious but loyal WindClan cat whose race for the deputyship turns deadly. Distraught at what he's done, he flees his clan and starts a new life. This story is about his adventures-and the fact that the clans may not be as unique as they think they are. REVIEW PLEASE PLEASE PLEEEASE!
1. Prologue

Prologue

I opened my eyes. Morning had come, but the proof of the deed was still on my claws.

My clanmates would know for sure. Would my mate, Crowsky, still love me? _Probably not_, I thought, and my kits, Lightningkit and Swiftkit, were too young to understand.

_How could I?_, I thought._ I murdered a fellow clanmate! Why did I?_ _So I could become deputy? Why, in the heat of the moment, did I kill Leopardstrike? And now what do I do? Do I accept my fate? Do I try to fight? Or do I run? _

_Which option was prudent_? I wondered. Probably accepting my fate, but ever since I murdered Leopardstrike, prudence was basically out of the picture. Fighting? I definitely wouldn't. I would never harm any cat again, from WindClan or anywhere else. The only option left was to run. _Am I crazy? I've never even gone further than Highstones! But what other options do I have?_

It was settled. I had to say goodbye to everything I had ever known: my mate, my kits, and my best friend Tanglefrost. I was done with WindClan, and WindClan was done with me.

I stepped quietly out of the den and looked around for the guard, Icebird. She was asleep. I walked out of the camp, and took one, last, long look at my home, and everything I was leaving behind.

It was over, my life as a brave warrior, following the warrior code and loyal to his clanmates, was over. What would I be now? I was a rogue, a loner. Someone my clanmates would attack and chase out. But now there was no going back. I flicked my gaze over the camp one more time, and then I turned around and started walking away, then breaking into a run, and never looked back.

I was no longer Jaystorm the warrior. I was Jay the loner, and Jay the loner was ready for a new beginning.


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

The heather swished softly as I left the territory, my gaze riveted on Highstones, where I knew the Moonstone glowed deep underground. _When I die, will StarClan still have me? _I had heard stories of the Dark Forest, a place for cats who had done too many horrible things to be worthy of StarClan. Perhaps I had earned my way to the Dark Forest. I had killed my own deputy! Maybe I should just give up and accept my punishment now . . .

_No._ I couldn't start thinking like that. I would never harm another cat again. I would go to the far reaches of the world helping and rescuing cats; and although I may not have been a warrior, I would do my best to show that there was still good in me. I would be the greatest loner that ever existed!

At about midday, I was exhausted, picking along the side of a small Thunderpath through a vast field. I could barely stay on my paws, and I knew I had to find shelter from the blazing sun, and a place I could find prey and water. I listened hard, and soon heard the sound of a slowly tinkling stream. After a short walk through the field, I found the small clear, fresh-smelling, stream. I couldn't believe my luck! I ran over to the shore and started lapping up water, finally quenching my thirst.

Now I needed to find food and shelter, but thankfully, an opportunity soon presented itself. In the distance, I could see what appeared to be an abandoned Twoleg nest. Undoubtedly, the place was chock full of mice and other tasty morsels, and would provide shade. With a yowl of triumph, I broke into a run towards the nest. I was feeling better now, and perhaps my life as a loner would turn out better than I had thought. But for better or for worse, I was about to find out!


	3. Chapter 2

When I finally got to the Twoleg nest, I began to have second thoughts. If there were mice, there also might be rats, and too many rats weren't just prey, they were a big, big, problem. Also, what if a bad-tempered rogue had decided to make its home here?

Finally, despite the risks, I headed into the hole in the nest, and looked around. Nothing appeared to be stirring, at least for the time being. I took a quick scent and quickly established that indeed, there were plenty of mice to eat, as well as another scent that was slightly . . . different. But anything that would have distracted me was erased by a sudden movement in the corner.

_Mouse!_ Even though I wasn't a ThunderClan cat, it would have to do. I dropped into a hunting crouch like I had seen ThunderClan warriors show at Gatherings, and took a few steps forward. _Thunk!_ I had been too careless and had stepped wrong and displaced something in the ground of the nest. The mouse scurried away into a hole. "Rabbit dung!" I said out loud.

"Your hunting crouch could really use some improvement," said a voice.

I whirled around. "Who's there?" I called out, ready for a fight.

"Only me, Rose," said the voice again, and with that, a lithe she-cat with green eyes and pale orange fur stepped out of the shadows. "What's your name?"

Hesitantly, I answered, "Jayst—Jay."

"And where do you come from, Jay?" she asked.

"I . . . I forget," I said, not trusting this cat enough to tell her his secret, and besides, would _she_ ever trust a murderer?

"I see," she said, clearly unimpressed with his lie. "What are you doing here?"

"Why is it any of _your _business?" I fired back.

"I want to know why you're in my house!" she answered.

"House?"

"Yes, house. It's where my . . . where a Twoleg lives."

"Were you a kittypet?" I asked.

"Why is it relevant?" she snapped.

"Fine," I said. "If you keep your secrets, I'll keep mine." I started to walk away.

"Don't move," she said.

"Don't be ridiculous," I said. "You can't keep me here now. I'd rather be out there in the hot sun than in here with a secret-keeping kittypet."

"I'm not a kittypet, and just _don't move_!"

I turned around. "Why—" And then I spotted it. Gleaming eyes peering out of the darkness, filled with malice. It could only be one thing.

"Rats!" Rose cried, and with that, rats swarmed out of the nooks and cracks and towards us. I tried to get toward the exit, but rats blocked it. I turned around, but rats were on that side. I looked all around, but there was no way out.

I was trapped.


	4. Chapter 3

Shaking, I looked out at the sea of rats, their eyes glimmering with evil. Rose had already realized that there was no way out, and she dropped into a fighting stance. I continued to stare, bemused, at the situation we were in. I had been in a few battles, but nothing like this. The rats were closing in, Rose occasionally pawing off one or two that got too close.

"What are you doing, Jay?" she growled. "Are you just standing there? Get up and fight!"

So I jumped into the battle alongside Rose, clawing rats and throwing them into the corner. I have to say, though, Rose fought well, for what I guessed to be a former kittypet. She ducked and spun, crushing rats with her long strides. We fought well, but we were still far from the opening, and the rats were closing in tighter each time, coming what seemed to be endlessly. I had to think of something, or I was gone for. No, _we_ were gone for. At least for now, Rose and I were on the same side.

I looked around. We couldn't get out of here by fighting, or running, so I would have to come up with a way to trick the rats. My mind flashed back to a battle with ShadowClan, when our clan used a tactic known as the "Friend of the Enemy" ploy. Some of our warriors disguised their scents and acted as ShadowClan warriors once the battle had begun. They pretended to fight their own clanmates, and ShadowClan was completely fooled, up to the point where the masquerading WindClan warriors turned on the ShadowClan warriors and no one could tell the difference. WindClan scored a smashing victory and ShadowClan promised to stop crossing the border.

So now I was thinking of using the ploy to get us out of this mess . . . except it wouldn't work quite as it had that day on the moors. I quickly explained my plan to Rose and she agreed. As the rats closed in, I suddenly started fighting Rose. We hissed and spit and rolled on the ground. I think the rats were quite taken aback, since they started milling about, confused. Just as the rats had let their guard down, we both sprung for the opening. As the rats came to their senses, they leaped after us with their little legs, but we fought them off quickly.

Turning our backs to the old Twoleg den, we ran and ran into the wind and toward the sinking sun.


	5. Chapter 4

**Please, please, review and tell me what you think! Thank you Emberclaw!**

Glowing red, the last rays of the sun sank past the horizon, as Rose and I rested under a tree. We had caught prey on the way, and we were both full and tired.

"You should be going," I said. "We're pretty far from your house now."

"No," she said. "The rats will still be there. And . . ."

"Look, Rose. I appreciate your help but I have a long journey to make."

"But where are you going, anyway?" she asked.

"I—I don't know, really. I never really thought about it."

"Then tell me the _real_ reason you're out here."

I looked away. "No, I can't. You would never trust me again!"

"What does it matter, then? You want me to leave, so what's to lose?" Rose asked.

I had to admit, her words made sense, so I had to tell her. _I might as well, _I thought. "I killed a cat," I stated plainly. "For a stupid reason."

"Well," she responded. "I suppose I have to come with you, because we have something really big in common."

"His name was Fox. When I met him, I thought he was the best cat in the world. I guess I was wrong," she chuckled sadly.

"We were great together, practically famous! Rose and Fox living in the house, with all the food they could want. It was perfect. Until _her_." She spit with contempt as she said "her".

"Frost was a beautiful she-cat. More than me, I guess Fox thought. So they started seeing each other. I noticed as Fox grew more and more distant. I knew something was up. But one day, I spotted them together, and I immediately knew that she had captured my mate's affections.

"So I confronted them. Fox couldn't deny what was going on, but Frost had a horrible temper. She began hissing awful insults and threats at me and it escalated until we started fighting. Fox jumped in to try to separate us. 'I still love you!' he cried, but I'm not sure to whom. Frost and I kept going hard at each other, until I sprang on top, and without thinking, landed the killing bite.

"Her body fell limp, and I was immediately immersed in the horror of what I had just done. Fox was running back and forth, trying to comprehend whether he should be sad or happy or angry or all three. I guess he thought that it would be better to run. I never saw him again."

We walked in silence in the morning air towards the looming trees. _Just like ThunderClan's territory,_ I thought. I would never look off the moors at the waterfall again. I would never run down into Fourtrees for the gathering again. I would never rush with my clanmates into battle again. But the clans were behind me now, like dust in the wind.

"I suppose you think that's pretty savage," she said.

"No, never! I know what it's like to kill a cat. You don't _really_ think about it till you've done it. And besides, I murdered Leopardstrike in cold blood, while Frost was already fighting you. Leopardstrike was a _good cat!" _

"I admit that that's pretty bad. But we can't spend our whole lives thinking about it. I know what a mistake that is . . ." She trailed off.

"You're right. We have to think about now, not then. We can't live in a past of worse things. You know when you asked where I was going? Well now I know. I'm going wherever the wind takes me, because I know that if I look for long enough I can find happiness. And I'll look as long as I need to, because I am Jay, and Jay does not stop, no matter what!"


	6. Chapter 5

**Hey! If you review, I will use a name of your choice in the story. Please don't just review to get a name in—review the story! – Thornfire**

It had been many days since we spoke about our murders, and we had gone through many forests and moors, crossed many Thunderpaths, and gone through many small Twolegplaces. Rose and I walked in the sunny plains around midday, talking about things from our lives, staying away from the topics of our murders. Rose was amazed at the strict hierarchy of the Clans, and the sometimes awful implications of the warrior code. On the contrary, I was fascinated with the loose and un-purposeful life of a loner.

We went on talking like this, but I started to get a strange feeling. "Hey, Rose. Do you hear that?"

"Hear what?" she asked.

"That sound. It sounds like—"

"Twolegplace!" Rose hissed. "And it's a big one, too. We could go around it, and waste days, or we could go through it—and risk our lives."

"I don't like the sound of that choice," I commented.

"I say we go through," she decided. "I know it's dangerous, but for all we know, going around could be equally risky and will take longer."

"I don't know about this, but I trust you, I guess," I said.

"Just hang tight with me, because the Twolegplace is rough. Go where I go, say what I say, and do what I do."

And so we headed into the Twolegplace, unsure of what we would find.

Some strange stench hung in the air as we snuck through the Twolegplace. All my fur was standing on end as we crept against a large barrier. Suddenly, a voice screeched down at us. "What are you doing on our territory?"

"_Your_ territory?" Rose yelled.

"Yes! Now trespassers, come with me," said the brown tom, jumping off the barrier. "My name is Stumpyclaw."

_Hmm . . ._ I thought. _That sounds almost like a clan name!_

Suddenly Rose burst out, "You can't just take us! We were just passing through! And where are you taking us, anyway?"

"I'm taking you to the leader of this side of, as the Twolegs call it, New Milton."

"Leader?" I asked inquisitively. "You have a leader?"

"Of course!" said Stumpyclaw, irritated. "Both clans have leaders."

"Clans?" I wondered aloud.

"Yes!" cried Stumpyclaw. "Do you know _nothing?_"

"I do know about clans . . . but you said 'both clans'?"

"You are one stupid cat. There are two clans. Each clan has a leader. Each leader has a deputy that becomes leader after the leader dies. Understand?"

"But I live in a clan too! And there are four clans, WindClan, ShadowClan, ThunderClan, and RiverClan."

"How odd," muttered Stumpyclaw. "Our clans are EmberClan and ClawClan. I belong to ClawClan."

Rose watched all this, not really knowing what was going on, but I was excited and confused at the same time. There were other clans! Were these the only ones, or were there more? Would the other clans be much like my clans?

"We're here," Stumpyclaw said, interrupting my thoughts. "This is our camp."

I looked around. There was a couple of scraggily bushes, growing out of a cracked hard surface. Some cats sheltered under the bushes, while it appeared the queens and elders lived in a silver Twoleg thing that had been knocked over, providing the best shelter. I couldn't believe it. _Clans_ lived like this? It didn't look anything like a clan, until I saw the fresh-kill pile, the warriors feeding the queens, and the apprentices going through the elder's fleas. It looked so different, and yet it was so similar to WindClan.

"Meet our leader, Lichenstar," Stumpyclaw said, and out from under a large bush came a wiry white tabby she-cat with pale blue eyes.

"Who are these?" she asked in a voice that was soft, yet commanding.

"These are two trespassers I found near the border with EmberClan. It's lucky that I caught them, they were probably bent on stealing prey," Stumpyclaw explained.

"I'm Jay," I said.

"And I'm Rose," she said. "We didn't mean any harm."

"And did you see them do anything of the sort?" asked Lichenstar.

"Well, no, but . . ." Stumpyclaw looked at the ground.

"Then what _is _your purpose here, Jay and Rose?" she asked.

"We are simply passing through," I said. "I hope you aren't too disturbed by our appearance here."

"Well," responded Lichenstar, "If you are trying to travel far, I believe there are more clans down the coast in the place known by the Twolegs as Milford on Sea. I think they have knowledge of travel."

"Thank you for the imformation, Lichenstar," responded Rose. "May the mice jump into your paws."

"And the same to you," Lichenstar responded. "Now be on your way."

So we left the ClawClan camp and headed away from the sun, and I wondered—just how many clans there were in the world?


	7. Chapter 6

**George: Thanks for reviewing, this helps. :)**

**Fallenpaw: Thanks as well for your constructive criticism (it's better than a lot of writers get on here ;D). I WILL try to make chapters longer. And as for the names I admit some are a bit strange, but I get many of them from this great warrior name generator designed by a family member. cs/warrior-name-generator/1196549967 Thank you for reviewing! **

**P.S. If you review, I'll give you a virtual cookie, too. ;D**

We headed out of the Twolegplace, into the fresh air of the plains—and I smelled something else, too. I couldn't quite figure out what it was, but Rose burst out first.

"The sea!" she cried.

"The sea? What is that?" I asked.

"It's like a lake, except immeasurably vast. And you can never see the end of it. It smells like salt, as you can see—sorry, smell."

But I had already run away, going up a hill, and looking down, and—"Wow . . ." I breathed.

Before me, stretched out, was a huge expanse of water. As hard as I looked, I could never see the other side. Humongous waves, bigger than me, broke on the shore. Big white birds wheeled over the water, occasionally diving down and catching what I presumed to be fish.

Rose caught up, and then she said, "I've been here, before, you know. No, _we've_ been here before. Fox and I . . ." She drifted off into some unhappy memory of long ago.

After an uncomfortable minute or two, she said. "Well, we should be going. We still have quite a bit of ground to cover."

I got up and we continued down the coast. We saw a couple Twoleg things up the hill, but we steered clear of these. At about sundown, we reached another smaller Twolegplace. But still, I had my misgivings. "Did we miss those other clans Lichenstar mentioned? Are they in another Twolegplace?"

But we continued on down the beach and soon the moon had risen. Stars twinkled overhead as we left the Twolegplace and began to meander along the side of a Thunderpath. "Are you sure that we should keep going, Rose?"

"No," said a voice. "You aren't going anywhere."

"I knew it!" hissed the cat. "NightClan has been trespassing, Dapplelight!"

A she-cat ran up. "Really, Shredfang? But these aren't NightClan warriors! They don't have the scent."

"Most likely they rolled in mud to disguise it," Shredfang shot back. "They _are_ very dirty."

"True," said Dapplelight. "Blizzardpaw! Get over here!"

A small apprentice with what could be distinguished in the moonlight as a brilliant white pelt bounded over. "Wh-wh-who are these?" she asked.

"Trespassers from NightClan," spit Shredfang.

"No!" cried Rose. "We're not from NightClan, I'm Rose and he's Jay and we come from really far away. ClawClan told us to come to you for information on travelling far."

"Travelling far, huh?" Dapplelight responded.

"Yes, we need to go a long way. Can you help us?" I asked.

"I still think they're from NightClan," muttered Shredfang.

Dapplelight ignored him. "You better come to our camp, and get some rest. We'll tell you more in the morning." Rose narrowed her eyes. "Trust me," Dapplelight said, "BreezeClan will treat you better than NightClan, MudClan, or DewClan. We are trustworthy."

But I didn't care. All I wanted now was to lie down and rest. And so when we got to BreezeClan's camp, I just lied down right away and fell asleep.

In the morning, some warriors were already awake, and gathering for the dawn patrol. "Hey, who's that?" asked a warrior.

"It's a friend, Wetwhisker," responded Dapplelight, who was on patrol as well. "Now let's go." The patrol left camp and the leader came out from one of the holes in the ground that the clan used as dens. Apparently the night patrol had filled him in on the strange visitors, so he asked immediately, "What do you want to know about travelling? I'm Lizardstar."

"Well," responded Rose guardedly, "We want to know how to go really far away. Like over the ocean." I shot Rose a look. We hadn't talked about this!

"Oh, that's easy. All you have to do is go back to the Twolegplace, and there are big Twoleg things that go on the water to really far away. There, problem solved."

"Alright," said Rose. "We should be on our way now. Thanks for your help, Lizardstar." I muttered affirmation.

So we left the Breezeclan camp and headed up the coast back towards the Twolegplace. "I don't know if we should do this," Rose said suddenly.

"Why not?" I asked.

"Going on a Twoleg thing for a long journey? Sounds dangerous to me."

"Yes . . . This is dangerous. We can't go. I want to get away from my past, but I'm not that desperate.

"But let's go to the Twolegplace and see if we can find anything that we need," she said.

When we got to the Twolegplace, we could see a tremendous Twoleg thing in the water that seemed to touch the sky. I presumed that this was what Lizardstar had spoken of, so we tried to steer clear of it.

But as we were traveling in front of a Twoleg building, a huge, burly, cat stopped in front of us. "Hey, you aren't welcome here!"

I said, "Are you part of a clan?"

"Clan? What's a clan? But it doesn't matter, because I'm gonna chase you _out of here!_"

He began chasing us, teeth bared. I didn't want to know what he would do if he caught us, so we both ran and ran until we were in front of the huge Twoleg thing. "Get into it!" screamed Rose, and we ran into the thing, but for some reason, the cat didn't chase us.

But soon enough, I found out. The thing began grunting and roaring and _moving_. And that's when it came to me:

"Rose, we're in a monster!"


End file.
